World Bank urges Asia to boost clean energy spend

SINGAPORE - SINGAPORE (AP) - China and Southeast Asia need to boost investment in renewable energy by $1.6 trillion to slow growth in greenhouse gas emissions over the next 20 years, the World Bank said Monday.

The region already plans to invest $100 billion a year to boost energy efficiency and develop renewable energies and technologies. But that won't be enough to keep carbon emissions - which many scientists say cause global warming - from doubling over the next 20 years, according to the bank.

China, the world's most populous country and biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, must shoulder 80 percent of the extra $80 billion a year needed to stabilize carbon use by 2025 and lower emissions by 2030, the bank said.

"The window of opportunity is closing fast as delaying action would lock the region into long-lasting high-carbon infrastructure," the bank said in a report.

The World Bank hopes $25 billion of the annual additional investment will come from low-interest loans from developed countries and multinational agencies.

China last year became the world's biggest investor in clean energy though the amount remains below what the World Bank is calling for. China's investment and financing for clean energy rose to $34.6 billion in 2009, out of $162 billion invested globally, according to the report by the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts. U.S. spending ranked second, at $18.6 billion.

The bank urged countries to embrace renewable energy such as hydropower, wind, biomass, geothermal and solar to reduce dependence on oil and coal.

The bank called on China, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand to cut government subsidies for gasoline and other fuels to discourage energy consumption, which the bank expects will double in two decades.

The bank also said the region's governments should carefully plan the expansion of cities to avoid inefficient urban sprawl. About 300 million Chinese are expected to migrate to cities from rural areas over the next 15 years, it said.